The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 49

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

os

PuBLisvep BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTuErRAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE or Nortru AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol.

XXIX.

That Dear Love of Thine.

It passeth knowledge — that dear love of Thine,

My Jesus! Yet this soul of mine

Would of that love, in all its depth and length,

Iis height and breadth and everlasting strength,
Know more and more.

Savior!

It passeth telling — that dear love of Thine,
My Jesus! Savior! Yet these lips of mine
Would fain proclaim to sinners far and near
A love which can remove all guilty fear —
And love beget. ;

It passeth praises —that dear love of Thine,

My Jesus! Savior! Yet this heart of mine

Would sing a love so rich —so full—so free —

Which brought an undone sinner, such as me,
Right home to God.

But oh! I cannot tell, or sing, or know,

The fullness of that love whilst here below;

Yet my poor vessel I may freely bring!

Oh! Thou who art of love the living spring,
My vessel fill!

1 am an empty vessel! scarce one thought

Or look of love to Thee I’ve ever brought:

Yet I may come, and come again to Thee

With this —the contrite sinner’s truthful plea —
“Thow lovest me!”

O fill me, Jesus, Savior, with Thy love!
May woes but drive me to the fount above:
Thither may I in childlike faith draw nigh,
And never to another fountain fly,

But unto Thee!

And when, my Jesus, Thy dear face I see —
When at Thy lofty throne I bend the knee,
Then of Thy love —in all its breadth and length,
Its height and depth and everlasting strength —
My soul shall sing, and find her endless rest

In loving Thee! Selected.

St. Teste, Mom ik uly, 1907.

No. 7.

“He First Loved Us.”’

The Apostle John writes: “We love Him, be-
cause He first loved us,” 1 John 4, 19.

God first loved us, and only when we know and
believe God’s love to us is it possible for us to love
Him. Therefore Luther says: “Certain it is that
He must first love us. Yea, if He should not make
the beginning, we would never be able to love Him.
For no one can love Him unless he believes that he
is first loved by Him.”

The reason why this is so can be easily seen.
We are sinners by nature, and as such cannot love
God, but must fear Him as the righteous and holy
Judge. He is to us a consuming fire, and the
thought of Him fills us with terror and trembling.
Our heart is in rebellion against Him, and we fear
His punishment as the slave fears the whip of his
master. In our conscience we feel His wrath and
would fain hide ourselves from His presence. . In
that state it is impossible to love Him. We hate
and fear Him, but do not love Him.

All this is changed when the Holy Spirit through
the Gospel leads us to know and believe the love
which God has toward us. “In this was manifested
the love of God toward us, because that God sent
His only-begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4, 9. 10.
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” Rom. 5, 8.
Yes, “God so loved the world that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John
8, 16. And God the Son “hath loved us and hath